Microsoft says investigating China factory report Posted by XanTium | April 15 22:02 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From reuters.com: [QUOTE] Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it was investigating charges that young workers at a factory in China making its mice, cameras and Xbox controllers suffer overlong working hours and harsh treatment. A report, published by rights group the National Labor Committee earlier this week, alleged that teenaged workers at a factory operated by KYE Systems Corp in Dongguan, China, faced military-style discipline, were fined for mistakes and housed in dirty dorm rooms after working 15-hour shifts. "We have a team of independent auditors en route to the facility to conduct a complete and thorough investigation," said Brian Tobey, who heads manufacturing for Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices unit, in a blog post on the company's website. "If we find that the factory is not adhering to our standards, we will take appropriate action." [/QUOTE] Full Story: reuters.com

Why would MS be surprised? It's China. Isn't that why they have them making everything in the first place?

We are going to bring a import war to china!

World Import War I

"take appropriate action..."

appropriate action being not doing shit and overpricing peripherals and continue raping the world

They probably don't care. They probably initiated it anyway and are stating they will take action only because they got called out on it.

blah blah blah Microsoft is evil blah blah blah I put a dollar sign in the initials of Microsoft because unlike other corporations, they are in it for the money blah blah blah.

Corporations at its finest.

Fixed.

People are acting as if Microsoft's the only company who has their stuff made in an inexpensive Chinese factory and as if MS is the only company out to make a profit.
And who is still childish enough to replace the S in Microsoft with a dollar sign?

In true MS fashion, doesn't that mean silencing those who are complaining?

Yep - nothing new really.....looks guiltily at trainers, tee-shirt, hoody, jeans, PC, consoles etc etc......

doesn't announcing the investigation before it starts give the chinese company time to look good for the inspection prior to going back to normal SOP?

Read between the lines.....what they really mean is that the factory isn't making enough units/min, therefore, they will need to take 'appropriate action'.

If any of you are blaming MS you are simply ignorant to the current state of the world. Shit is NOT free and not everything is rainbows and sunshine.

Age old saying... When you point fingers, remember how many are pointing back at you.

Hey man, are you sto- ?!?!? Oh yeah, just read your sig.

Seems everyone here knows what they mean by "appropriate action" ... glad we can see the forest for the trees! And at the same time, yes... capitalism at its finest. Bummer I still gotta pay $50 for a pink 360 controller for my girl...

So what. -- The Sony factory is just as bad.

I spent 10 days a while ago, touring the various "china" plants as I need good supply of repair parts,
and sadly the conditions I saw was very very very sad.

The world has changed, instead of shipping the "work slaves" to our own factorys like the 17th and 18th century, we have learned it is better just to leave them in their own country, and have the finished goods shipped to us.

Wait until you see the Apple "iPAD/iPHONE" factories, they are all basically the same.

American has been gadget crazy, and want stuff at cheap prices.

To do that, you need to sadly cut corners in the making of the product.



With workers living like this when not busy assembly M$ products, these workers will never enjoy a 360, much less freedom of the outside world (all tho, they get 3 days off per month!).

Very sad, and hopefully the American public will step up to fix these problems, because big corps. really don't care!

Here is a link with some more very sad pictures:

http://www.fastcompany.com/1615888/nlc-unc...reating-workers

this is called slavery... every product we own that comes from a third world country is exploiting their work force.

also here in the usa (as well as "first world countires, ie usa, europe etc) have illegal aliens (cheap labor).

we can pick up at home depot or similar to that, are given jobs that citizens of that country could do. and you can't say that illegal alieans are doing jobs that people don't want to do. i work in construction...

ironic that politicians claim to want to help out the "citizen" but don't want to upset the "undocumented immigrants" when in fact they are supporting slavery. laws are not enforced... and you get fined/arrested for "j-walking".

now please understand that i am not anti-immigrant. i'm third generation and my mom-in-law is an immigrant as well as many of close friends are from outside the usa.

God's word even says not to exploit the worker if you didn't know that...

nothing in this world will work when greed is king.

imo

This is just sad.

first off... the ONLY reason they are taking "appropriate action" is because someone in the press BESIDES m$ found out... and two.... who cares...its not like they are going to get there and they are gonna say " Yes we are working these poor guys to death" ok have a good day bye....


i can give a shi* less anyways... all the companys are exporting jobs to other countrys so they can get there shi* cheaper.. well how do ya think your getting it cheaper DUH!!!!!

Its one thing I have learned in my life and its that you always have a choice. I have met guys that left mexico when they were 14, 15, or 16 and came to this country and got jobs to send money home to their families so nothing that goes on in China can make me believe that they dont have a choice in the matter.

i love my gadgets but those pics gosh made me so upset but what can we do? as it is i dont support their crap as much as possible (yarr!) gosh there has to be some way to make things better for them i really dont believe they need to be in workcamps....

how is this different from what the nazi's did seriously...

I am mexican , and i live in tijuana mexico.
Tijuana used to be the world TV manufacturer industry, and many otehr products,
The mexican worker here in mexico, has a lot of rigths.
i'll just mention some
These rigths are not negociable

.-The worker has the rigth to have a 7 day break fully paid each year(and add one more day every year after)
.- the worker cannot work more than 48hrs a week, and every hour after that period is considered extra shift hours
.-the worker has a rigth to receive what you called chiristmas bonnus in the usa
.-the worker has the rigth to rest 1 day for every 6 days of working.(and be paid for that day)

And many more.
so what happened , well many companyes wanted to have cheap lanor and slaves and so they went to china or india.

It's like when I was a little kid and my parents told me to clean my room, and I never cleaned it, and they were on their way home and I called them and they said they were on their way and then I cleaned my room really quick, and when they got home it was all hugs and kisses.

mad true mushy i feel you...but like to be honest i am def an optimist a dreamer...and a person like me i get affected by strong photography it took pics of kids getting killed in iraq to turn me away from supporting that debacle...in this case that one pic with the workers heads down on the table just wow...i know that majority of americans dont care but i for one am just horrified...what happened to humanity...

This is essentially why China can produce things so cheap. It is not always the case, but child labor has been around for along time.

For starters....last time I checked, there was no holocaust.

I am sure Microsoft have know this for years. China will be full of places like this and to a smaller scale in other south east asian counties as well

I would suppose it is vastly more difficult to "run away" from working conditions in a Communist country, than in an underdeveloped Republic like Mexico. Even though there is corruption in each country, I would think it would be much easier to escape an impoverished lifestyle in a country where you aren't prosecuted by law for running from your job and responsibilities. I could be wrong, there could be no repercussion...But I also think if that's the case, then their working conditions aren't as poor as this article makes them seem.

Personally, I really don't think China's working conditions-pay ratio are as pitiful as we're assuming. I've a feeling that both are rising quickly, like their minimum wage in several regions has already done.

Regardless, the problem isn't how the Chinese treat their workers, it's how we treat the world. Case and point, our shit should be made here. It's both us consumers, and the companies we support who are to blame.